Earlier this year, it seemed as if Ireland was making great strides to liberate its people: the same-sex marriage referendum was successful, and there were talks to legalise drug use. Now, it’s been decided that possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use will be legalised in a bid to decriminalise addicts and get them the help they really need. So far, so full of empathy and forgiveness.
Yet still, it currently stands that the Irish government would rather its female citizens lose complete control of their minds than have control over their own bodies.
Abortion has been considered in three referendums in the Catholic country since 1983, and each of them has failed to give women the rights they deserve. There is hope among campaigners looking to ‘repeal the 8th’ (the amendment in the constitution that bans abortion) that, since the last referendum held in 2002, attitudes have caught up to reality.
But while there’s an eager approach to legalise drugs alongside ‘wrap-around supports which foster recovery – such as housing, health and social care’, it looks as if little attention has been paid to the fact that unwanted children born to potentially traumatised mothers (remember, Ireland will not give women abortions if they’re made pregnant through rape or incest), aren’t incredibly likely to grow up to lead fulfilling lives.
A study from Freakonomics found that, 20 or so years after Roe vs Wade, the landmark case that made abortion legal in the US in 1979, crime levels in the US dipped. While some of this could be put down to things like better policing and a booming economy, the economists behind the book found that, maybe it’s because all the children who would have grown up in unhappy, unstable homes and gone on to lead unhappy, unstable lives – and yes, that includes taking drugs - just weren’t being born.
The conclusion they came to is that letting women have a bit of control over their bodies results in a better life, not only for those women, but for everyone around them.
And that’s why it’s so frustrating that while the Irish government talks about offering robust ‘wrap-around’ services to its drug addicts, it won’t offer basic levels of support and access to healthcare to its women.
It’s fantastic that the Irish government has given drug-takers and same-sex couples progressive liberties to make their lives easier, but it makes the lack of abortion stick out like a sore thumb.
How can a country with so much change going on still hang onto a law which means thousands of women are being forced to gain an abortion illegally every year, or face misery, a lifetime of anguish or, in some cases, injury or certain death?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.